Trump: Would Reconsider TPP If Agreement Were 'Much Better'

The President told CNBC he would consider a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement if it were a "substantially better deal." (Published Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018)

President Donald Trump, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, sat down with CNBC Thursday and said he would reconsider the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement if the U.S. were able to nail down a "substantially better" deal.

"I would do TPP if we were able to make a substantially better deal. The deal was terrible, the way it was structured was terrible. If we did a substantially better deal, I would be open to TPP," Trump said.

Last January, Trump made the largely symbolic move to pull out of the Pacific trade deal championed by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. As a candidate, Trump repeatedly blasted the agreement, which had little chance of securing congressional approval even before he took office.

TPP was a 12-nation agreement among the United States and Pacific rim nations designed partly to curb China's influence. Critics like Trump worried that it would encourage companies to ship jobs from the U.S. to lower-wage countries.

Trump: Military 'Ready if Necessary' to Respond to N. Korea

Moments after the White House sent a letter to North Korea canceling a planned U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, President Donald Trump said the United States military was ready to respond to "foolish or reckless acts" from North Korea, claiming that South Korea and Japan will pay for the cost.